County Judge Ed Emmett stands to greet visitors to take a photo following a proclaimation presentation during Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, in Houston. After 11 years as County Judge, it was Emmett's final Commissioners Court meeting before stepping down in January.

The Permanent University Fund helped a farm boy from a small town in South Texas make something of his life.

In the last five years I have been proud to watch two of my grandsons graduate from Texas A&M in four years with first-class educations. Once again the PUF helped make this possible and I am grateful.

I currently have two grandchildren enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Like many others in this community, I also have several family members who have received an education at the University of Houston, which has enabled them to succeed.

For some of these, UT and TAMU educations were not viable choices due to space limitations in Austin and College Station.

It is time for the Texas Legislature to recognize the growth limitations of the UT and TAMU Systems, the demand for a first-class education in Houston and West Texas, and include both Texas Tech and UH in the PUF.

I have been to all four campuses, and sincerely believe this move would make a significant difference in the quality of state-supported higher education in Texas.

R.J. Bartosh, Houston

Trump vs. Infinity war

President Trump is withdrawing our active duty troops from Syria, probably leaving a covert war behind. Of course he has done it in his usual bumbling and most disruptive manner.

However, is it wrong?

At the rate things are going we will eventually have troops stationed in every hot spot on the globe, never to be extracted.

We can’t even get out of Germany after 70 years. We are actively deployed in all of the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, the African continent and all the untold places that our covert forces operate.

So when do we withdraw from all these places?

When do we decide to deploy assets and for how long?

Members of Congress need to start doing their constitutional duty. Just having a public list of all the places we have military and para-military forces in the world would be a start for a real discussion.